My Famicase Collection

Unique art exhibition at Kichijoji inspired by retro gaming

The past month, Japanese design house METEOR has be holding their annual My Famicase Collection exhibition at their shop in Kichijoji. This unconventional art display which has been going on since 2005, has designers come up with original, often whimsical Famicom case designs, the best of which are put up for display.

Each cartridge serves as a canvas for artists to showcase their creative talents. Designs are submitted and shortlisted from submissions from all around the world. My Famicase Collection concept is “digital keystones”.

My Famicase Collection.

If you’ve had the fortune of growing up in the 80s, you’d remember how each of these rectangular pieces of plastic brought you to another fantastic 64 color world. As a child, while I was fascinated by games like Galaga and Wonder Boy, I hated arcades for the unforgiving twitch gameplay.

It was the original Famicom that introduced me to a whole new accessible world of home video gaming, with the original Super Mario Brothers, and especially Exitebike and Battlecity, with their level editors. And while not the only reason, my exposure to them at such a young age was probably a major influence to my job choice.

Contributed by various artists from Japan and beyond.

For players who had lived through that era there is something incredibly iconic and magical about cartridges. Especially when considering how much each cost in the past, kids used to treasure them dearly. Without the internet, or game reviews, the only deciding factor as to most purchases would have been the colorful, strange artwork on each box and cartridge.

Computer and video games have reached the point these days where physical distribution is actually a hassle and disadvantage. You can often get them faster and cheaper through digital means, while physical games come in souless DVDs and generic cases. That’s not saying that the former is a bad thing. But it’s nice that this shop continues to honor the nostalgic, fleeting memory of classic cartridge games.

A whimsical, retro take on art.

For more information, check out My Famicase Collection’s official website. Or here for past years’ designs.